When Nixon was in the midst of the Watergate investigation, Nixon refused to release tapes of Presidential conversations that Democrats believed would prove his guilt, and that republicans believed would prove his innocence.
Romney refuses to release his tax returns. Then he continues to stonewall about why. Democrats believe it’s because he’s hiding something incriminating. Republicans believe it’s because he’s modest and because he doesn’t have to anyway.
But his tax returns aren't all that Romney won't talk about...
Romney doesn’t want to discuss Bain Capital’s role in outsourcing American jobs, bankrupting companies, and destroying pensions. (emphasis mine)
“…in every race Romney had ever run -- for senator in 1994, for governor of Massachusetts in 2002, and for president in 2008 -- his time at Bain Capital had always been an issue… Therefore, it should have come as no surprise to Romney and his campaign team that Bain Capital would again be an issue in the general election in 2012. They knew the attacks would come, yet it appears they didn’t have a plan -- other than stonewalling -- to deal with them…”
Romney refuses to discuss Afghanistan (or the troops)—again Stonewalling when asked why he didn’t mention the troops and/or Afghanistan, even in his RNC acceptance speech.
This article in American Conservative (?!) discusses why Romney is stonewalling…
...If Romney is the candidate of continuing a war that no longer seems to serve any purpose or American interest, he is at a severe disadvantage with the public, and he and his advisers have to know that. Perhaps that is why Romney avoided going to Afghanistan and opted not to mention it in his convention speech: he is prevented by hawks in his party from seizing on the unpopularity of the war, and public disapproval keeps him from rejecting withdrawal outright, so he remains silent…
…Kerry accused Romney of holding “every position,” which is a fair description…
Romney’s statements on the war in Afghanistan is a perfect example of what happens when a habitual panderer is caught between the demands of his own party’s hard-liners and the preferences of the voters: incoherence and confused leadership..
There are many other examples of Romney’s stonewalling on almost every important and/or controversial issue, including aiken or abortion; or which deductions he would eliminate from the tax code; on other issues his positions are “incoherent, confused” and constantly changing.
While Romney has proven that he’s capable of “taking every position” on almost all issues, as the election gets closer, Romney has apparently decided that instead of being accused of flip-flopping, and instead of making either the extremists in his Party (at this point the majority of his Party) angry, or making the voters angry, the safest thing for him to say is: Nothing.
It’s easy to understand why Romney is stonewalling.
It’s not as easy to understand why the media isn’t making his stonewalling a major issue. Yes, we all have low expectations of the media and they often don’t even meet the lowest of expectations.
But, not every single member of the media is an incompetent hack or a right wing stenographer. You would think that at least those few that actually want to do objective reporting would be totally frustrated with the Romney campaign refusing to discuss almost anything. You would think they would be tired of trying to come up with inane, softball questions that Romney actually would answer. You would think that they have had just about enough of Romney’s stonewalling and start calling him on it.
I hope that the Democrats start hammering Romney on his cowardly refusal to discuss his position on major issues, and keep hammering until he has to take a position or explain to the voters why he won't.